Dante / Neruda 1 - Our Own Journey - A Trip to the Basement
"Therefore, for your own good, I think it well you follow me and I will be your guide."
Dante / Neruda 1 - Our Own Journey - A trip to the basement : This lesson is ideally given on the "in-between" day of their reading of "The Inferno" excerpt. In other words, I gave them two days to read the excerpt (it's rather large) - and this is what we do in class - before we begin to talk about the story. The lesson always began with a private and personal examination by each of my students. I give them a handout with some questions about where their lives are - at this moment. They fill it out - and then we took a trip to the basement of my school. We begin with looking at the confusing, sad incidents in our lives. With each examination (silently) we go further down the stairs. When we reach the bottom - we consider who it is that we have guide us out of these hard situations we find ourselves in. Next, we look at the happiest, most fullfilling parts of our lives and with each of these contemplations, we would take steps up the stairs - back towards our classroom. This echoes - in a way - what we did on the first day of class ("What is Truth?") - the idea is to model our journey - on the one that Dante (and later Neruda and Mario - from Il Postino) take on their life's journey (or journey through hell & heaven in The Divine Comedy). When we return to the room - the students finished their worksheets - and with any time left were given some rare time to work on finishing their Dante reading.
Lesson Overview
The sign over the door
Ok - the sign (saying "Abandon Hope all Ye Who Enter Here" is meant ironically, though I must admit there were probably students that took it quite literally). I think one day my Principal actually decided to observe me on a day that I had this up. But, I liked it because I was always happy to poke fun at myself and it sets the mood for what is to occur in the rest of the class.
A trip to the basement
The students contemplate & write
In order to plant the seeds of "The Inferno" - I give the students a handout (found below) that asks them a series of questions designed to bring their minds (and hearts) to Dante's text that we will be discussing (or that they will be working on in a group) in a few minutes. I remind them (on the handout) that there answers are for their eyes only - and they should be kept somewhere were only they can see them. I call each question a Canto (again - getting them ready for Dante). Here are the questions (you can find the entire handout below):
Canto I. Write down three of the darkest moments in your life (you may write them intentionally vague – so that only you will understand their true meaning).
Canto II. Write down a line about a time in your life when you faced a fateful decision – felt lost or confused – and/or sought guidance from the outside (see earlier note about keeping this confidential).
Canto III. What is it (not a person) you either love more than anything else or that you feel defines you (this could be music (what type – be very specific here, reading (see last parenthetical note), etc.)
Canto IV. What person (real or fictional) exemplifies or is the master of III above (your hero, mentor, etc. in that field)?
Canto V. Have you ever been stuck in a situation? Neither here or there? Wanting to move on but compelled to stay? If so write down a line about that situation that identifies it to you.
Canto VI. Write down the three happiest moments in your life as you remember them at this moment. .
The journey to the basement
When the students are done writing, I ask them to fold their papers - and get up - we are going for a walk. My classroom for most of my career was on the 2nd floor of our school building - so we walked to the 2nd floor stairwell. I then tell the students to "Look at sheets - see what you wrote for the first unhappy thing in your life. We then walk down to the next landing. Again, "Now, what did you write for the 2nd unhappy incident." We go down to another landing. Finally, I ask them to regard the third thing that they wrote for "Canto 1". We are now at the basement of our school (in the stairwell - but still a sight unfamiliar to the students).
I then ask them Canto 2 (from the handout)'s question: "Think of that time you faced a fateful decision - and that you wished you had an outside "counselor" to guide you.
We then look at their answers to Questions (Cantos) 3 & 4 - and this time I ask them if they will share who they see as the expert or hero of the field or genre that they answered for Question 3. This time - I ask students to share whom that person is. Over the years there were so many answers to this questions - musicians, athletes, teachers, politicians, relatives, and much more.
While still in the basement - at the bottom of that stairwell - I ask them what they wrote down for Canto 5 (V): Have you ever been stuck in a situation. I ask them to think about it.
The journey back to our classroom
Now, I ask them in turn to think about what they wrote for Canto 6 (VI) - those happiest moments of their lives - and with each "contemplation - there are three, we walk about one set of stairs (to the next landing). By the time we they have gone over what they wrote (in their heads) for all three - we are back in our classroom.
The remainder of our time
Questions (Cantos) 7 & 8 (VII & VIII) ask the students to relate the journey that we just took to the basement and back to texts that we have read so far this year. Here are the questions:
Canto VII. Write down a point when two (any two) of the characters that we’ve read so far this year faced a fateful, life-changing, choice in their life and what that choice was. (see the handout for the examples that I give).
Canto VIII. Did that person have a person, an ideal, someone or something to guide them in that decision and that journey. Be as specific as your memory allows you to be. Explain
If the students have any time left at all - they are asked to continue their reading of "The Inferno" excerpt in class.
A Personal Journey - Contemplation Handout
Please see the Lesson Overview for much more on this handout. It asks a series of questions that the students fill out (while I play some thoughtful contemplation music). These questions (Cantos) are only seen by the students - but while we take our trip to the basement and back - they are examined as we fall and then again rise on the stairs.
Reading the Inferno - A short handout & a Bookmark
A short handout that goes over what to and to not look for including the links to much of what we've read so far in the class.
The bookmark gives the students some things to look for, a poem by Sylvia Plath (on the Inferno) and a diagram on the back of the planes of hell that Dante and Virgil encounter.
Music for Contemplation
I think it's great to have some gentle, thoughtful music playing as you proceed with the lesson - especially the part where the students write down their thoughts and histories.
The Reading
This is the excerpt that the students read for most of the years that I taught Dante and The Divine Comedy.
Remote Enhancements
This is tough to do remotely - I believe I had the students imagine the trip as we took it online.
triptotheinferno_2009.mp3A Class Recording
The audio of this class consists of four parts -- In the first part, I stand outside the door, greeting my students (and other students) as they come in or pass by. Above the door is a sign warning that they should "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." In the second part, I collect the quizzes that they just took on their reading of the Inferno. The third audio selection records me going over with them the filling out of sheets that ask them about some of the tough times in their lives, the good times in their lives, and who they would choose as a mentor to take them through a tough journey. These are roughly metaphorically equivalent to Dante's journey in The Divine Comedy.
The last part of the audio records our thoughtful discussion as we go down the stair all the way to the basement of our school -- while recounting (not aloud) what we wrote down on our sheets.r
For the longest time - the majority of my teaching career, I had done this lesson - after the students read the excerpt from Dante's "Inferno" as a Group Work. I believe the biggest reason for that was just that I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of Dante's writing. There is SO much there - I felt the only way that I could "tame" it was to compose a Group Work that touch on the many ideas and words that are in the students excerpt. In any case, I have both the Group Work and the Vertext below - and I believe both are worthwhile (but it wouldn't make sense to do both). The very first slide of the Vertext references - through Dante's journey - so many of the other journeys we've seen in this class - it is the perfect review for how far we have come.
Thoughts on the Lesson
Such a moviing lesson. I know that I've had students moved to tears - and students made giddy. Of course, this gives Dante's words - which they in the middle of reading - and that we will discuss at our next lesson - all the more meaning.